Mark McNamee, a widely respected administrator who has led the Division of Biological Sciences at UC Davis for seven years, has announced that he will step down as dean in July 2001. McNamee, 53, was named dean in April 1995 after serving as interim dean for two years. He first took on the job in May 1993 at a time of enormous challenges for the division. It had just reorganized its structure and revised its undergraduate curriculum. The state was in a recession, and the university was at the height of budget cuts. And the division was short on faculty members because hiring had been suspended until the reorganization was complete, and because the budget situation had led many senior professors to take early retirements. Today the division is a prestigious, thriving organization. All five sections have made major progress and continue to strive for excellence. The five-year goal of the division's new academic plan is to be one of the best fundamental biology programs in the country. "Dean McNamee successfully steered the division through the major difficulties generated by the California recession, then worked tirelessly to set an ambitious course for the future," said Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Robert Grey. "His achievements will continue to further enhance the Division of Biological Sciences and the Davis campus." In announcing his plan to resign, McNamee wrote to his UC Davis colleagues, "Combined with my term as a [department] chair, I have served for more than a decade in Division of Biological Sciences academic administration, and I am ready to think about a change." But setting his resignation a year away leaves ample opportunity to continue to work on many of the division's ongoing initiatives, he added. "The Division of Biological Sciences is on the threshold of one of the most exciting times in the life sciences, and we are in a very strong position to attract a new leader who can provide us with sustained leadership." Planning the new genome building A top priority in McNamee's final year as dean, and for his successor, will be planning and construction of a new $95 million building that will house the UC Davis Genome Center and programs in molecular medicine, pharmacology and biomedical engineering. Envisioning and managing this sort of cross-disciplinary program growth has been one of McNamee's administrative strengths. "He has been especially effective in working with other deans to optimize the utilization of resources, including space, and to gain broad support for campuswide initiatives," Grey said. McNamee is also well-regarded by the division's faculty. Bill Lucas, professor of plant biology, said, "I think that one of the most important aspects of Mark McNamee's term as dean is his broad perspective on biology and its current frontiers. This vision allowed him to work with the faculty to recruit outstanding new colleagues who now fill critical positions in our program. "In addition, Mark is always accessible, being ready to listen to one's concerns as well as to share in the joys of our successes." Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef agreed. "I expect that Mark's least-recognized attribute is his greatest: He continually reminds us that caring and empathy must always have their place in our administrative actions." Administrator since 1990 McNamee has been an administrator at UC Davis since 1990, when he became chair of what was then the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics (now the Section of Molecular and Cellular Biology). He received his doctoral degree in chemistry from Stanford University in 1973, then served two years as a postdoctoral associate at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. After he came to Davis in 1975 as an assistant professor of biochemistry, his research focused on the structure and function of biological membranes. He was made professor in 1985. McNamee said he is considering several options for his career after leaving the dean's post. "There has never been a better time to launch an expanded research program, given the promising funding levels at the National Institutes of Health, and I am long overdue for a scientific sabbatical. I may also explore different administrative opportunities," he said. "I have consistently deflected other opportunities since I find it difficult to pursue other positions when there is so much that can be accomplished within the division. I will take a fresh look at all opportunities next year." Grey said the campus administration will begin talking with the faculty this spring about the recruitment of McNamee's successor and will launch that search in the fall.